The Deep Dark Forest
by Clover131
Summary: Inuyasha and gang's journey leading up to a plot twisting fight with Naraku and romances unveil along the way. InuKago, and others. rated R just to be safe. please R &R!
1. Ch 1 Escape and Broken Pieces

**Deep Dark Forest**

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha in any way. The talented Takahashi Rumiko-san does. I only own stories that unfold in my head. 

**Editor's Note!** (E/N from now on yah?): Yo! 'Tis me! WaterLillyofLife! Just call me Lilly from now on, yah? I was planning on doing some funnies…. But I figured out that I wouldn't be that funny! *cries* n e ways… I am the editor and if there are spelling or grammar mistakes… don't blame Clover-chan! IT'S MY FAULT!!! *cries again* oh, and jus so u kno, dis is me first editing job (apart from school essays and stuff… but that's a 'duh' statement) Oh! Oh! Oh! I don't edit notes made by me or Clover-dahling, yah? N e ways… I'll leave u to this story, personally I didn't know she could write this well but she can! I even got caught up in the story when I was editing. *sweatdrops* oops… oh! Rambled again! I'll be hopin that Clover-doll gets some good as well as helpful reviews… *gets a serious and evil look of face* if you dare flame without reason or a good enough reason I'll hunt u down and flame u back, yah?! *goes happy again and waves* c-yer ppl!

**Chapter 1 - Escape and Broken Pieces**

The land was being covered in a blanket of darkness as the fires of the sun slid down over the far horizon. At one village people were preparing for the night, eating their suppers and mothers putting their children to bed. Old men could be heard talking and walking, clattering in their getas. Discussions of the day's activities and what would happen the next could be heard. The hot summer nights were more pleasant than the summer days, for the lack of light seemed to ease the tired souls of farmers and town workers from the constant heat. However, the infamous hot humid mist lagged in the air. Both men and women looked up to the starry sky, gave thanks to the gods, and made their way into their homes to sleep. It was a quiet night— for them at least. No demons and evil spirits were threatening them tonight and for that the villagers were thankful. 

No one could imagine that somewhere in the deep woods, something dark and powerful was fighting to take procession of the good.

Down a long a narrow, winding path leading away from the village a faint noise could be heard. A rustling of leaves. Animals, as silently as possible scurrying away, afraid for their lives. Going deeper into the forest, the canopy of tree branches and lush leaves hid all the stars from view. How skilled the forest gods were in creating their own enclosed world! Outside the forest barely any sounds would be heard, and sights would not be seen. The forest hid its secrets. Whatever happened there would stay there, among the age-old trees.

Near the heart of the forest, almost no one was there— no one in their right mind. An evil miasma mixed in with the humidity and cursed the air that it was constraining. For a moment the whole area was dead silent. Total darkness. No lights from above, no wind moving its fingers through the stiff air, no smell of pines or giant redwoods or maples or the petals of flowers. 

In that terrible silence, all she could hear was her heartbeat, rapidly rising in its rate. All she could sense was the lack of space to breath and she felt the desire for air overwhelm her as tight dark and cruel coils tightened around her, threatening to steal the source of life right out of her. She couldn't even cry for help, and she could not move and inch. She couldn't see anything, only the dark— the darkness of the coils and the evil surrounding her. At a last attempt to do anything she tried to bring together any energy she might have had and ball it all together but it was no good. The lack of oxygen in her lungs had made her whole being weak and she felt her sight get darker than it already was. Her head fell limp inside the tunnel of coils and she was squeezed into unconsciousness. The coils sensed this and unceremoniously let go its grip on her, causing the body to drop a few feet to the hard ground. With a thump the girl toppled near another female body, apparently in a similar state as she. In the darkness it was difficult to see anything, but the girl had some kind of powerful aura around her. A dim light surrounded her and it showed blood covering her legs and part of a green short skirt, as well as shoulders of a white school uniform top. The articles of clothing had tears in some places where the coils had wrapped abound her. 

The other girl lay too, motionless except for eyelids struggling in their subconscious to open. Her long dark hair lay halfway around her, while some was tied up in a high ponytail that seemed to come loose. She had tight black clothes on and the armor of a youkai exterminator over them. One of her arms has been cut and blood was slowly dripping from the skin and surrounding cloth. A small white cat-like creature nuzzled her nose in the girl's hair, licking at the wounds. It had a gash on its front paw itself. Next to her a man in black and purple robes was crouching down, tightly gripping one hand covered with prayer beads. He had a short ponytail on the back of his head and large beads of sweat trickled down his face. The last of their group member, a small demon fox boy, stood shivering out of sight behind a tree. The others had all made him stay there, in the fear that he would get hurt, but now the others were all injured...

Ku ku ku... Now laughter filled that horrible silence. Ku ku ku...

"Hmph, in the end she was only a human. To think that a dirty scum could ever do anything that could harm this powerful lord was a grave mistake." The source of the voice turned to directly face a being clad in red robes and holding a huge sword that seemed to have been made of a great fang. The being clutched his sword tighter and glared at the voice.

The voice had once come from a figure that looked like a human. A man with dark eyes and a mean scowl. Long black hair and white skin which seemed to be perfect. He had a sense of elegance around him, a cool, assured, determined barrier that seemed to be impossible to get through. If one would not have known that this man was capable of the cruelest evil, one could only marvel at his perfection and call him handsome, but only if one did not know him.

That form of a man was now transformed into a huge greenish black monster. Tentacles reaching every this way and that, blending in with the thick vines of the trees of the forest. Yet his tentacles were muscular and had spikes coming from them. Capable of lightning fast speeds, if these tentacles got a hold of anyone, they could be sure that the end was near. The being was surrounded in bits of all kinds of demons and now the only human looking portion to him was his head. Even the arms seemed unnaturally long. To say the least, he looked like a mutated insect ready to strike at any moment. And yet an insect is the wrong comparison to make. Even a mutated insect could not explain the power this man had. With a flick of a hand he could send thousands of youkai flying at his enemies and obeying his orders. He could bring people to hate each other and destroy themselves. A pure evil, known by the name of Naraku.

It was the voice from this being, which ran through the night air.

"Ku ku ku.... Inuyasha, make it easier on yourself and just simply hand over the last shard. Or do you want to share the same fate of the other humans." The silver haired soldier named Inuyasha growled. "Or perhaps I should go ahead and end their miserable little lives.... ku ku ku." 

Inuyasha glanced over to where the other three lay. Damn, Naraku had them in a bad situation again. The ears on the top of his head could just pick up the light sounds of breathing from his companions. Even in the dark, he could see the girls laying on the ground and the other young man struggling to stay in the conscious world. Damn the Saimyoshou... their poison always got the better of Miroku. He thought back to how the now doubled over priest had tried to suck in the tentacles rushing towards Sango, the exterminator girl, with the black hole in his hand. The overgrown insects had swarmed out of the depth of Naraku's mutated body and flown so willingly into his hand, determined to poison his whole being. Inuyasha remembered the look of anguish he had on his face, maybe from the pain, or from the fact that he couldn't protect Sango. Sango had then thrown her Hiraikotsu at Naraku, but of course Naraku had sent it back to hit her instead, knocking the lights out of her eyes. She had landed on the ground of the clearing and that was when her hair had tangled out of its binding and left her there. Hiraikotsu, after hitting its owner, had flown off into a far corner of the clearing. Kirara, the white cat in her transformed state, had growled angrily at Naraku, but with a swipe of a tentacle, was sent flying back, only to knock down the trees in her path. How the tree gods screamed their pain at the impact! But to any living ears, all one heard was the crunch of broken trunks and the loud rustle of disarranged leaves. Kirara had transformed back, limping back to take care of her owner. 

Inuyasha remembered how Kagome had tears in her eyes as she lifted her bow up and pulled the arrow back, screaming "Don't ever touch my friends!" Just as she had let go of her magical arrow, Naraku had grabbed hold of her waist and began to squeeze tightly around her, covering her small body with more and more of his disgusting rough tentacles. Her arrow had barely hit him because he had jerked out of its way, but the arrow did come in contact with a part of him, sending bits of his right side of his body flying everywhere. Inuyasha remembered that he could do nothing to stop Kagome's pains and his attacks were leaving little damage on Naraku.

'Damnit. Why was nothing working?' The only thing he was confident about was that Naraku did not have the last of the shards yet. The last shard of the Shikon no Tama was tucked away in his haori. He had managed to let Kagome lend it to him because the whole gang knew that Naraku would be attacking for Kagome. At least he would not get stronger than he already was! And yet, as his mind traveled away from these thoughts and back onto the opponent ahead of him, Inuyasha realized that Naraku had grown aware of the location of the shard. He felt the presence of his eyes glaring down upon him.

"Inuyasha.... going to all that trouble to hide the last piece of the jewel from me... wasting time and energy, did you truly think that I would not become aware of its location? Putting your so-called comrades in the state they are in… are you not ashamed?" 

Naraku's tentacles sped toward the hanyou and went in for the attack. Inuyasha jumped up just in time to a few feet away, but it was no use. There were so many of the tentacles and only one of him. With nowhere to go and unable to see in the very dim light, Inuyasha swung his sword around and yelled

"Kongousouha!" Hundreds of crystal shark spikes sped up toward all the tentacles. Some ripped Naraku's flesh but the monster didn't seem to be worried in the least bit. 

"Inuyasha... you can't kill me. Now, enough of these games! Hand over the shard!" Tentacles flew toward the hanyou at lighting fast speed so only a blur could be seen in the dim light. Inuyasha brought his sword down in front of him, but it was too late. All too soon he felt the sharp pain and the drip of blood down his clothes. Looking down, he saw the terrible tentacle sticking out of his middle. 

'It can't end like this.... not now! That bastard Naraku, he was aiming for the shard... and missed by only an inch. Damn, I can feel the bits of broken glass stabbing me, from that weird container Kagome keeps it in.'

Naraku's tentacles had started to wrap around Inuyasha and his sword, getting tighter and tighter. 

"This is your final moment Inuyasha..." Naraku squeezed around Inuyasha constricting some of his air. Inuyasha, with tentacles all around him and through him as well, gave only a feeble sound. The glass jar with the shard was under his haori on the right side of his chest and the glass was poking at him. He could barely feel the sharp bits cut into him as he was wrapped more and more by Naraku. And then... it happened.

There was all of a sudden a violent shudder as boiling blood started to pulse inside Inuyasha's body. There was an enormous amount of white light as the shard made contact with Inuyasha's skin. 

The pain, the constricted feeling, everything was gone in a matter of a second. The next seconds were a blur as Inuyasha ripped apart the tentacles around him and grabbed a hold of his sword again. 

"NARAKU! YOU WILL PAY!" Inuyasha charged at the only human-resembling part of Naraku and sliced with his sword. Instead of being killed like anyone would have been if they were attacked, or at least seriously wounded, Naraku had escaped, by making his body dissipate and let the attack pass. The slice of the Tetsusaiga had cleared the canopy of the trees and now the light of the stars above showed through. 

Chuckling almost, Naraku reformed his body and went straight towards Inuyasha with his tentacles again. Inuyasha hacked all of them to shreds but he knew that he could not kill Naraku, for he had learned recently that his heart was hidden in another location. The situation sunk in and Inuyasha was all of a sudden overwhelmed by fury. Fury that his friends were hurt, fury at what Kagome had to go through, fury for the fact that he could not end it all right here and now, and fury that he had no more strength.

Inuyasha felt himself get hit with a ball of heat so great he did not know what hit him. He figured that this was another one of Naraku's attacks but he was wrong. It came from himself. The white light that the shard of the Shikon no Tama had given off earlier changed to black. The fury of his soul and the miasma all around him had corrupted the shard. It was out of Kagome's hands, out of those purifying hands! 

"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Inuyasha yelled as he felt the new power corrupt his mind. He picked up his sword and in a crazed state, flung it dangerously in all directions. He rushed towards Naraku and aimed for where his heart should have been. 

'What the-? I can't stop. I can't control my body anymore. No! That puts Kagome into danger! NO! Stop!!!!!!!' 

---------------------------------------

Inuyasha lost all control and hell broke loose. Slashing every which way, it was amazing that he did not cut up his friends… much. Miroku flew back as a small cut appeared on his left cheek. Inuyasha noticed a new thin red line appear on Kagome's sleeve and the reality hit him that that came from him...

'No! Damn it all! I'm hurting them! Kagome!'

Miroku coughed as he tried to stand up. The pain was unbearable. Yet he knew he had to protect Sango, Kirara, and Kagome from Inuyasha. With all the strength he had left, he put up a barrier. But he knew that it could not last much longer. 

"Nnnmmnmn...." A sound same over from the body of Kagome.

"What? Kagome-sama?" Miroku questioned and turned his head to see Kagome slightly move.

"Nnnnnnn… That hurt……" She slowly brought a hand to her arm where she had just been cut. 

Miroku realized that Inuyasha's cut had caused her pain enough to wake up from her unconsciousness. Not the smartest way, he figured, but as luck had it, she had not been more injured and she did wake... maybe there was hope...

Kagome opened her eyes. She was still lying on the ground, but now had her mouth open when she saw what was happening. Only one thought ran through her mind. 'I have to do something. I have to help Inuyasha!'

---------------------------------

With all the sword's cuts flying around, and hitting everything, even Inuyasha got hit once. But all it did was cut up his robes. Finding it hard to move and too hot with the disarranged clothing and power, he flung the top part off. Naraku was getting his body cut up but was not dying. Inuyasha couldn't feel anything anymore. No pain, No emotion and not the tentacle that hit him full force in the back until it was too late. 

"Damn you halfling" was all he heard from that voice of the enemy. His body jerked forward at the impact, but he had too much energy to fall over from it. There was another violent shudder and the shard sprung from his body. Almost in dead silence, the shard dropped to the earth in a twinkle of a sound. Inuyasha's, Miroku's and Naraku's eves all went to the tiny darkened jewel. Naraku swiftly went in to pick it us, seeing that Inuyasha fell onto the floor. 

Grunting, Inuyasha felt all the pain, all the emotion that had left his body return in full force and found it hard to breathe. 'It can't end like this, it CAN'T!' 

Naraku picked up the last shard and held it in his fingers. 

"Don't touch that!" He managed to get out. He took his sword one more time, and giving it all he had swung it and aimed at the shard. The sword came crashing down and the whole clearing was blinded by yet another light. Yet, this light was different, it not just a blinding light, and nor was it a corrupted light filled with darkness. It was... a mixture of both, and there was something more to it, A bit of purifying power? It seemed to come from another place altogether. But from where? And how? Inuyasha let the thoughts pass as he could start to see through the light again.

When the light died down, They all saw what happened. Naraku had been pushed back by the force and seemed to be drained of power. The jewel he held in his had seemed all of a sudden smaller... 'Wait, smaller!?' Inuyasha thought. And then he saw it.

There on the ground was the other half of the jewel. Right in front of him. He reached out for it and was rather surprised that Naraku had not attacked him again. He had no more energy left. That last blinding light had weakened him more than he already was. 

He looked up, and saw Naraku fall to the ground and make a fist around his jewel. Then out of thin air, Hakudoushi appeared and made a barrier around them both. In the matter of a second, they were both gone, and all that could be heard was that voice. 

"Keep safe that piece for now, Inuyasha. I will come and collect it from you in due time..."

'Damnit... he escaped....'

Inuyasha laid down and held his half of the jewel tight. A figure half crawled over to him. She was intent on getting to him that she didn't notice she was scratching her knees on the forest floor. She made her way over to his body finally and the small fox demon kit scurried towards her and hugged her. After a moment, she put him down next to her and brought her attention to the lying half dog demon in front of her. He was covered in blood and she could see the big wound on his back that must have gone through to the front of his body. 

When Inuyasha thought he would be overcome by tiredness, he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"Inuyasha...?"

He jerked his head back, or tired to, to see who it was. Just before his vision became blurry, he saw a girl with raven black hair and a strange costume not typical of the feudal era crouch over him. Next to her, was a furry tan colored ball. 'Must be Shippou.'

She put her hand on his fist and he let his hand get loose. The shard went into Kagome's hand. 

"Kagome..." Inuyasha whispered as he let his head fall down and his body into unconsciousness. 

"Inuyasha..." She spoke and looked at his form in the starlight. Opening her hand, she looked at the jewel. "Eh? Its only half of the shard we had… its a broken piece...."

**A/N**: Well, there you go. My first chapter of my first story. Review and tell me what you thought about it please! If you didn't like it, don't flame me, but give me constructive criticisms! Then I can make it better. Well, thank you to WaterLilyofLife for editing it! I hope you all liked it. Yes I know, the battle was strange..... but it wasn't too bad was it? Inuyasha used a shard, the last shard broke in half, and where did that other light come from? I'll write more later, I will try to update as much as I can, but maybe once a week? I dunno yet. But in the meantime, send in reviews!

-Clover131

**Some Japanese words:**

geta: Japanese wooden soled shoes 

youkai: demon or spirits

Haori: outer coat of traditional male clothing

Shikon no Tama: Jewel of Four Souls

hanyou: half-human half-youkai


	2. Ch 2 The Morning's Light Shines Through

**The Deep Dark Forest**

Disclaimer: I do not own Inuyasha and Co. But I love them all so much! hehe

**Chapter 2 The Morning's Light Shines Through**

The sun began to rise over the hills of a feudal land; over villages, flower fields, castles, and over ancient land. The sun's rays touched upon the wide expanse of forest and filled the land with bright pink, orange, and misty purple hues. From above the forest, light filtered through the leaves of the different trees and made a splendid mosaic on the ground below. Even more beautiful was the sun that had chosen the forest floor covered with various leaves and colors as the surface for the artwork. All different shades of gold, red, brown, and the occasional green lay scattered in a masterpiece on the ground. The morning light shining through the leaves made the brown tree trunks look as if they were covered in a green quilt. Almost the whole forest seemed to be at peace and giving a salutation to the new day.

Kagome was leaning against the trunk of a large pine tree and had situated herself among the roots that had decided to poke their heads above the ground. She sat there watching the morning unfold, both awed and disturbed by the beauty of it all. She never had stopped being bedazzled by how pure the nature of this era was. Not touched by man, not polluted by factories and vehicles, no buildings taking away its peace. The air was so clean, compared to that of her home in modern day Tokyo. She thought to herself of how, when looking up at the sky in her time, that she could always see a tint of brown mixed in with the blue, signs of the polluted world.

Taking in a deep breath Kagome allowed herself to be immersed in the woody scents. It was all so beautiful. But it was no longer perfect. 

In front of her was the small clearing where there had been so much evil the night before. Only hours ago was this area constricted with a miasma that threatened to suffocate any living creature. Blood and screams, cuts and bruises, those terrible strong tentacles, surrounding the whole place. A wide gash in the canopy of the trees, leaving the morning sun to leave a field of light in the center of the small clearing. 

It disturbed Kagome how pretty her surroundings were when such a fight had taken place. She could hardly believe it. Naraku was gone. And with half of the last shard. He had not killed them, but had left his signs of malice. The broken trees, the break in the leaves above her, the spot where the sun shone down, making it clearly visible the red color that had spilt out of her friends. Her friends. Sango had lain on the floor and had had to suffer because of him. And Inuyasha. He had completely exhausted himself. Miroku had fallen over after holding up a barrier as long as he could. He wasn't unconscious though. He, Kirara and Shippou had helped her pull and drag Sango and Inuyasha so they lay against trees as well. As weak as they were, they had managed to do a mediocre job of bandaging the worst wounds up on everyone, thanks to Shippou getting gauze and bandages from Kagome's yellow backpack some ways back. In the dim star and dim moon light, it had proven to be a difficult task.

She remembered clutching the broken shard while she had closed her eyes and drifted to sleep. 

And now, too sore to stand up and walk around, but not being able to sleep any longer because of the sun's light, Kagome sat leaning against the tree. 

Miroku and Sango were asleep up against another tree. Kirara was in her smaller form and snuggled in Sango's lap. Hiraikotsu lay on the floor next to Sango. Her hair was still in that half tied up, half loose hair mess, but she still looked pretty. Shippou was still asleep huddled next to Kagome on one side and on her left lay Inuyasha. His silvery bangs were down over his eyes. He was the figure that was leaning the least against any tree because of his stomach wound. Kagome had covered him with his haori, which had the color of dark red-- his blood. 

She was scared to think that they could have been in a worse situation. 'At least Naraku doesn't have this' She looked at the shard again. 'Hmmm, I think I'm gonna have to get another glass vile to hang on a necklace. When everyone is resting at the village with Kaede, I should go home. And get more medicine and first aid supplies. We look so terrible...' 

She now directed her thoughts on Inuyasha.

'He used the shard and it made him go crazy. It corrupted him, but it saved us. So was that good or bad? And poor Inuyasha, now he must be in so much pain. '

She gazed down at his bloody covering and then looked at his face. She couldn't see his closed eyes because of those shaggy silver bangs. Kagome made to brush them aside and then inched closer to his face. She suddenly stopped, a little unsure with what she was doing. After a second, she gently brought her hand down and pushed the hairs aside. 

His closed eyes completed his face and made him look serene as the sun made his hair shine. 'Even when he's wounded he's so handsome... Wait- what am I thinking? And what am I doing?'

She had just noticed how she was sifting her hand through his hair. Blushing, she quickly took her hand away and awkwardly resettled her seating position. Seeing as her body was sore and having cuts and bruises here and there, any movement was stiff. 

A warm breeze made its way through the leaves making a rustling noise as if the forest spirits had giggled at her. Kagome looked back at Inuyasha again. 'Thank God he's unconscious- I don't think I could explain what I just did without some big misunderstanding and argument. But how would I explain it anyways.... Why did I do that? Even if I like him, he likes Kikyou so…'

"Hmph. This is so complicated anyways." As Kagome thought about what had just happened she quickly turned her head to look at everyone else as well. And her thoughts drifted into words.

"Now what!? What am I supposed to do? Everyone's so tired and sore...but we can't stay here. And...." Her eyes fixed on her own hands. The image of that bright purple light emitting from her hands came to mind. "I need ask Kaede Baa-Chan about that...Hmph. My life is soooo complicated!"

"hnnnnn.....Ask her what?" A voice from the direction of the being lying next to her asked. Kagome glanced down, obviously surprised.

"Inuyasha! You're awake! How are you feeling?" 

He opened his eyes to the bright sun, so that at first he had to squint. The amount of light told him that it was well into the morning. Then as his eyes were still adjusting, he saw that the light was actually not falling directly into his eyes, and that he was covered in the shade of a girl with long hair. From the contrast of the sun, he could barely make out her expression as her face covered in shadow. But he knew who it was that was looking at him.

"Kagome..." Even though she did look frazzled from the fight, she looked heavenly against the daylight. 'Kagome.... you're OK.'

"Are you OK? You look dazed."

Snapping out of his thoughts Inuyasha quickly replied. "Er, yeah, why wouldn't I be OK?"

"Well, judging by that wound you've got going through your middle..." 

"Keh, that's nothing. A scratch." He made his way to stand up to prove his point. First hoisting himself to a sitting position and then balancing on his legs, Inuyasha got up with a suppressed breath of pain. His haori, which was on top of him, started to slide off from his shoulders. By reflex, he jerked his arm to grab it. Bad choice.

CRASH! 

"UWA! Dammit! ptuh!" Inuyasha spat the leaves out of his mouth. The quick movement on his arm had caused his tired body to loose balance, and he fell face flat on the floor of leaves. "What the Hell? Where'd all these damn leaves come from?"

Kagome blinked at him before starting to laugh. 

"You wench! It ain't that funny. If it weren't for these damn slippery leaves! I don't remember there being this many in the dark!"

Kagome went on laughing until she could keep it within herself. By that time she was clutching her stomach because of the aches she got though her injured body from the laughing. "I would say the leaves came from the trees being hit so much and branches being cut off last night from the fight."

"Or one could logically think that since this is a forest, there would be trees and then under the trees, there would be leaves."

At the last statement, both Kagome and Inuyasha twisted their heads to turn over to Sango and Miroku's direction. Sango smirked back at them and winked to Kagome who was trying to suppress a giggle. 

"Good Morning Sango-chan!" Kagome called out cheerfully. 

Sango felt her arms covered in bandages. "Thanks for the cloth bindings Kagome-chan."

Kagome smiled. Then she felt a furry ball move against her.

"Jeez, you guys are so loud..."

Kagome looked down. "Good Morning Shippou!"

"Kagome! Are you feeling ok!?" The tan ball of furry fuzz jumped up to give her a big hug. 

"Yes Shippou, at least better than yesterday. We did bandage a few wounds on everyone so you don't have to worry, ok?"

"Yeah but.... I still hope you're ok."

'He's so worried, Shippou is really caring.'

Sango spoke up again. "Did you do all the bandaging by yourself? I really don't remember much from last night." She petted Kirara who was now sitting awake too in her lap.

"No, Miroku-sama did some too."

"And me and Kirara helped too!" Shippou sat up, looking proud of himself.

"Yes, and you too." Kagome smiled. "And Miroku-sama was the one who brought everyone over to these trees so I could treat some of the wounds. Anyways, I wasn't able to do a good job-so sorry about that. But Miroku-sama was really great because he must have been in a lot of pain too. From the poison and injuries"

"Did someone mention my name?" Miroku's voice could be heard and everyone brought their attention to him... and then his wandering hand... moving to a dangerous position. At it came to rest of Sango's lower back area, the young demon exterminator's face turned a deep shade of red. But only a second passed before she slapped him so hard her hand print lay imprinted on his face. 

So in this way, Miroku went from half awake to half unconscious, lying on the ground.

"That dirty-minded good for nothing hentai!" Sango crossed her arms and glared at his figure on the pile of leaves.

"That perverted monk never learns." Inuyasha just shook his head.

The rest of their company had to agree. 

--------------------------------

By the time Miroku opened his eyes again, the rest of his friends had managed to stagger to their feet. Kirara had transformed into her bigger state. Miroku made his way slowly to stand up.

"'Bout time you got up." Inuyasha raised an eyebrow. 

"We should head back to the village. There's no need to stay here any longer, and the sooner we all get there the better." Climbing onto Kirara, Sango now turned her attention to Kagome. And then to Inuyasha. "Are you sure you don't want to ride Kirara instead? I'm not the one with the worst injury right now."

"Keh" was Inuyasha's answer. "Don't compare me to a weak human. I can take the little bit of pain to walk."

Shippou ran up to Inuyasha and poked him in the side, earning him a wince and a growl from the dog demon. 

"Don't push me...." The two went on to glare at each other. Sensing the hostility, Kagome picked Shippou up and sat him in front of Sango.

"Shippou should go with you, Miroku-sama and Kirara. I uh.... actually should be going home to my time for a little bit. That way I can get more first aid supplies and bandages." Kagome told her friend. She was purposely avoiding Inuyasha's gaze.

"Wait! What!?" Inuyasha stepped in front of Kagome. "What the hell do you mean go home?! We have work to get done here!"

Kagome glared back at him. "Before we can get anything done, Mr. I'm-so-strong-and-mighty, everyone has to heal! And I didn't ever say I was going to stay for long."

"Hmph! Fine! But you better be back here in 3 hours! Got that?"

"Why do you have to be so rude all the time! Baka!"

Sparks of electricity could be seen between the two and the others all sweatdropped.

Miroku spoke up this time. "Sango and I will take Shippou and Kirara to the village. If Kagome-sama is going back to her country, Inuyasha, I suggest you accompany her up to the well. We will see you in the village in due time." He climbed up onto Kirara. Then their group started off for the village. Kirara did not go at full speed, because of the cut in her paw, but she wasn't incredibly slow either. 

Shippou called out "Bye Kagome! Don't let Inuyasha do anything!" And then they were off behind the thickness of tree branches, leaving the miko and hanyou alone in the woods.

Kagome waved after Shippou and Inuyasha gave his infamous "Keh!" 

The two barely glanced at each other before leaving in the direction of the Bone Eater's well. It was about noon by then and the sun shone brightly in the sky. It was another hot, humid day, and the air was still. The heat and moist air hung around them, so thick that if a leaf broke off from a branch, it should surely have stayed, floating in the air. 'One thing that never changes in Japan, even through centuries, is this heat. And I bet it's even hotter in the modern day because of pollution.' Kagome thought to herself. 'I guess the other thing that never changes is the fact that Inuyasha always has to start these stupid little arguments.'

Inuyasha kept on walking beside her, but not directly beside her, there was about 5 feet of space between them. Inuyasha didn't like this silence, and indeed their walk was getting awkward. "Hey... um..."

"What?" Kagome tiredly sighed. She did not want to participate in more arguing. She tried to sound sincere. "Yeah, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah, um... " 'What do I say now? Good going you idiot! You make conversation and all you say is um! Oh, I know, I'll talk about Naraku and the fight...' Inuyasha started to remember the previous night's events. How Kagome had sensed the Shikon jewel and they had all gone into the forest. How they met up with Naraku and how he had taken the last Shikon shard from Kagome. And how she got hurt. By Naraku. By his own out-of-control attacks. Because he couldn't protect her. He had allowed her to feel pain. And then he had gone and managed to lose half of their shard. Naraku had escaped and he couldn't stop him from leaving. What did he accomplish? The burst of energy didn't even come from him, that powerful beam of light had come from another place altogether. And now she had taken care of his wounds and he wouldn't even hear her out when she wanted to go to her own time...to bring more aid supplies for their group! 'Dammit.' Inuyasha got a sinking feeling in his stomach. Was he really that bad? 

"Um...Inuyasha.... are you OK? You just spaced out on me. Didn't you want to say something?" Kagome, thinking that he had lost his mind, tried to snap him out of his stupor with a pat on the shoulder.

Inuyasha winced in pain and Kagome immediately remembered that even though he was a youkai, his wound wouldn't have healed completely yet. He stopped walking and put his hand to his wounds.

"Oh gosh, I forgot! I'm really sorry!" She looked at him, thinking he would start yelling at her again. She had no expectation for what followed.

After a moment, Inuyasha looked up, and directly into Kagome's eyes. He looked sad even.

"No Kagome, I'm sorry." 

Kagome gawked at him. 'OK… he really did lose his mind now.'

"Inuyasha, do you want to rest? You sound really strange. Do you have a fever?"

She put her hand to his forehead.

Inuyasha stared at her, kind of taken aback by her sudden behavior and contact. He pulled away, but then suddenly he wished he hadn't. Her hands were soft and warm, pleasantly warm, even in the summer heat. His instincts made him grab her wrist that was on his forehead a second earlier. He saw the cut he made on her shoulder.

"It must have hurt. Kagome, I'm sorry I couldn't do anything useful last night." He let go of her wrists and suddenly found the forest floor very interesting. 'Dammit. I never can do anything. Why in hell am I so useless!? Why do I keep hurting her? Why does she even stay here anyways?'

Kagome stared at him, wide eyed. Inuyasha had just apologized and had apologized earnestly. 

"Inuyasha, it's not all your fault. I don't even have any big injuries, only cuts and bruises. I'm just sore, that's all. And you did keep Naraku from getting all of the shard."

Inuyasha kept his gaze to the ground. "I had help"

"And you helped to everyone to survive the night!"

"But I couldn't do anything! I let you and the others get hurt, I lost control from the power of the shard, and then I lost half of it. And worst of all, I'm the cause of some of everyone's injuries and cuts! I couldn't do anything!"

Kagome didn't know how to answer. She knew that whatever comfort she gave, he would not forgive himself. She said the only thing that she thought he might believe.

"Inuyasha, you don't have to be sorry for me. No one is perfect. Every one does things they regret, but you just have to try and keep those things from consuming you. And I know that you will defeat Naraku one day." 

Inuyasha looked up at Kagome. "Thanks. Kagome. ... … I guess we should keep going then, so you can go back to your time."

Kagome smiled. "Yeah, I won't be away too long. Thanks Inuyasha."

They once again headed off to the Bone Eater's well, and again, there was a silence between them. Except this silence wasn't as awkward, but rather, a silence of understanding that two friends share. It was like this all the way until the well came into view. 

Kagome said good-bye to the hanyou and then the miko jumped down into the well. Inuyasha watched her go, and then decided to go sit up in his tree, having many thoughts to sort out. The sun shone above in the sky and the heat was all around. A few fallen leaves lay on the ground by the old well.

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A/N: Ok, that was the second chapter! Sorry if you found it boring after the first chapter, but I promise it will get better! Well, this took me longer than the first chapter to write, because it had more serious talking in it.... Yeah, I don't have much to say today, other than please leave a review! I wanna know what people think of this story so far!

Have a good day!

Clover131

E/N: *cries* everyone… I…. I'm s…s…sorry!!!!!!! I was supposed to edit this sooner… but *sobs* I had so much other crap to do… oh, and I had a friend edit it as well (she found so much more than me… *cries more* but of course she does want to be an editor for real later) n e ways, I'll be having her edit it before me and I will be editing it while I put it up on the computer. N e ways… I hope we get more reviews… despite the fact that I didn't have the time to edit… NOT CLOVER-CHAN'S FAULT!!!!!!!!!! SHE HAD IT DONE WITHIN A WEEK!!!!! *berates self loads* me so mad at self for being over 2 weeks late… but gotta go! C-y'all next time…. Well not litterally…


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